JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

Bluff City, TN has had a speed camera for years. I don't speed in Bluff City anymore. I also don't shop in Bluff City anymore. I feel too often the speed limits are set lower than necessary. That causes some citizens to lose respect for speed limits and perhaps for law enforcement in general. If Mommy tells you not to do things too often and for no apparent reason she may lose your respect.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

Then you are wiling to give up your rights to help a small town with a speeding problem. These rights are your heritage won by the blood of our ancestors. Do you want to live in a Robocop world? The police can't help, as much as they would like to. They pick up the pieces and hopefully stop the folly of crime by example. Rarely, if ever does the cavalry come over the hill in the nick of time. Responsibility for your actions is your best remedy. Trying to fob off problems on governments and others is the bane of this country.

kd7eir Loc: Tucson, AZ

They lost because they violated the US CONSTITUTION.

I guess you've never heard of this little thing in the US CONSTITUTION called "due process" Here's a hint for you - ask a competent child to explain the 5th, 6th, and 14th amendments to you.

Your opinion PROVES two things - you don't care about the US CONSTITUTION, and you don't even know what the US CONSTITUTION says.
I bet you call yourself a "patriot" as well...

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

I have to say I'm tired of hearing about the plight of this small town and the stupid mistake of being suckered by a traffic cam company that takes a 40% cut! Did the towns people have a say in this? For the same money and probably less they could have installed traffic controls and lights.

Dude above me thanks for saying the much needed words US Constitution.

Star Shotz Loc: Weeki Wachee Fl

Been through there many times

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

I guess the rest of us are not as perfect as you. How do you put your hat on over your halo? Have a perfect day.

Marionsho Loc: Kansas

Marionsho Loc: Kansas

That's the heck of it. The locals will end up with the tab.

Violameister Loc: michigan

Maybe I don't understand. Around here, if you get a ticket based on a camera, you are allowed to contest it in court using whatever evidence you may have. Same as if a police officer stops you and gives you a ticket. In both cases you present your evidence/testimony, and the officer/camera present theirs. And the judge/jury rules.

Is there no mechanism for appeal here? If there is none, then it certainly is unconstitutional; otherwise not.

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

Speed cameras are outlawed in the state of Wisconsin. But don't worry, there are plenty of police with radar guns willing to stop offenders. The nice thing about a person, vs an unmanned camera, the person (aka cop) can decide if this is with the flow of traffic, dangerous, or apparently affected (drunk/high). People are better to deal with than robots.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Have your best man killed by a drunk driver that ran a red light at 85 mph and tell me you uphold speeders and lawbreakers sir.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

OK - - these PRICK towns that are built up around a MAJOR Thoroughfare suddenly decide that traffic on the MAJOR road that feeds the town is NOW undesirable.
So they enact MORONIC speed laws, and THEN Skrew anyone bold enough to drive through their town on a previously 65 MPH road, now labeled 40 MPH
I hope they get hit with punitive fines as well

Earworms Loc: Sacramento, California

Amen and thank you!

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

I am from California and not an expert on Florida law. In California, speeding (no accident involved) is a misdemeanor or infraction unless you are clocked at 20 mph or more over the limit. In addition, road condition, safety and keeping up with the flow of traffic are considered important factors when an officer decides if a ticket is warranted. If the posted limit is 65 and the flow of traffic is 70 with good road conditions, the CHP will not usually stop or ticket you. In fact, if you are driving in the fast lane under good conditions at 65 MPH and the everyone else in that lane is trying to do 70, you are impeding the flow of traffic and could be ticketed.

Since a misdemeanor or infraction does not require incarceration as a penalty and a fine does not deprive you of property (land in constitutional interpretation), the courts have held that it does not violate Section VI of the constitution because does not normally carry a penalty that might deprive you of freedom or land. Therefore, a US constitutional challenge is not viable.

California has a law that specifically prevents municipalities from having speed traps. If the Florida case where the speed limit was dropped from 65 to 45 without a real safety reason were to occur in California, all of the tickets issued would probably be nullified by the courts.

Under California state law, the agency with jurisdiction must do a periodic documented engineering study to establish safe speed limits. If you receive a speeding ticket and can show that an engineering study has not been performed within the prescribed time frame, the engineering study was flawed or any of many legal requirements have not been met, the case against you will be dismissed. An example of a flawed engineering study would be if a road in jurisdiction A was safe at 65 MPH and when it passed to jurisdiction B where there were no changes in conditions, a different engineering study set 45 MPH as the top safe speed.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

These traps are nationwide, some worse than others. So much so that there is a national website: http://www.speedtrap.org/